the_adeptsfandomcom-20200216-history
Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen, one of the earliest skirmishers in the American Revolutionary War, was born into a pious family of English Puritans. His father, who alienated himself from much of the Puritan community due to abstract theological debates which were raging within the Puritan church at that time, raised his children to read the bible and memorize it. Facts: -Indeed, reports show that Ethan Allen was proficient at quoting verses and whole passages from the Bible at a young age. -While Ethan Allen’s exploits as leader of the Green Mountain Boys, culminating with his daring raid and capture of Fort Ticonderoga, are well known, what is less known is that Allen was an avowed Freethinker who often ran counter to the prevailing cultural norms. This included the judicial norms of the time and Allen, more than once, often wound up on the wrong side of the law for it (a common theme among many of America’s earliest heroes). -One poignant example of Allen’s character was when he was fined by his township after, of all things, he inoculated himself against smallpox. At that time, under crown rule, it was illegal to do inoculations without the approval of the town selectmen? Not even on one’s self. -Well into his adult life, after moving to Salisbury, Allen met up with Thomas Young. Young, a fervent debater and Enlightenment freethinker, really introduced Allen to the concept of Deism. Young worked as a doctor just over the colonial line in New York and he and Allen quickly struck up a friendship. Together they would pen a treatise that espoused the teachings of Deism while simultaneously attacking the practice of organized religion . -Years later, Allen would expand on this treatise and publish it as Reason: The Only Oracle Of Man. -Ethan Allen began his career of infamy long before the Revolutionary War, forming a band of local hooligans known as the Green Mountain Boys. They defended early Vermont from what they saw as illegal tenant farming instituted by the colony of New York, a move to seize land that was rightfuly Vermont’s. -When the war broke out, Allen quickly and eargerly took up the cause and his popularity skyrocketed even further. Working with Benedict Arnold, who famously vied with him for the credit of seizing Fort Ticonderoga, the two Revolutionary raiders managed to reduce the British influence in the colonial frontier as well as seize weapons and supplies badly needed by the early American forces. -When the war ended, Allen backed off from his corsair lifestyle and took up investing, spending quite a bit of money to purchase land strategically placed in early Vermont. While financial difficulties haunted him and the early State of Vermont, Allen remained publicly active even up to the point of his death. -After journeying to a cousin’s house to collect a bale of hay and spend the evening with friends and family, Ethan Allen was seized with what appears to have been an aploplectic seizure. He lost consciousness and was taken to his home but died a few hours later. -Allen’s funeral was no small matter and many of Vermont's finest, and poorest, showed up to pay respects to the man many considered to have been the hero of early Vermont. His original tombstone is said to have read “ His spirit tried the mercies of his God, in whom he alone believed and strongly trusted'' .“'' Category:Sons Of Liberty Category:Temple Of Reason Category:God